a mark. We had figured out how to position ourselves on the high ground
where we could do the most damage to enemy fighters and best support
the U.S. Army and Marine units operating in the city. When the enemy
rallied to attack, SEAL snipers sprung into action and engaged with
precision sniper fire, killing large numbers of well-armed muj fighters
and routing their attacks. As enemy activity escalated, so did SEAL
aggression. Once our SEAL elements were discovered, our positions
transitioned from clandestine sniper hide sites into fortified fighting
positions. SEAL machine gunners joined in the fight, hammering enemy
fighters with hundreds of rounds from their belt-fed machine guns. Other
SEALs lobbed 40mm high-explosive grenades and launched our own
shoulder-fired rockets at the enemy. Rapidly, the number of enemy
fighters killed at the hands of our Task Unit Bruiser SEALs grew to
unprecedented levels. Every bad guy killed meant more U.S. Soldiers,
Marines, and SEALs survived another day; they were one day closer to
returning home safely to their families. Every enemy fighter killed also
meant another Iraqi soldier, policemen, or government official survived,
and more Iraqi civilians lived in a little less fear of al Qaeda in Iraq and
their insurgent allies. We fought an evil enemy, perhaps as evil as any
the U.S. military had faced in its long history. These violent jihadis used
torture, rape, and murder as weapons to ruthlessly terrorize, intimidate,
and rule over the civilian populace who lived in abject fear. The
American public and much of the Western World lived in willful naïveté
of the barbaric, unspeakable tactics these jihadis employed. It was
subhuman savagery. Having witnessed this repeatedly, in our minds and
those of the people who suffered under their brutal reign, the muj
deserved no mercy.
* * *